Tool libraries lend DIYers a hand

July 19, 2010|By William Hageman, Tribune Newspapers

It's something most homeowners and do-it-yourselfers have faced: You need a specific tool for a project, but it's not one you own. You can buy one, but that can cost big bucks for something you may never use again. Or you can rent one at considerably less expense, but it's still money out of your pocket.

This is why your neighborhood needs a tool lending library. The concept is simple. A group collects tools and lends them within the community — to a homeowner or organization — for whatever needs doing.

Tool libraries have been around for more than 30 years, but there seems to be a growing interest these days. One of the newest is the West Seattle Tool Library, a project of Sustainable West Seattle, a group that promotes urban sustainability. It opened in June.

"One day we kind of came up with the idea that we need to make tools more accessible, and the community needs to get more activated," says Patrick Dunn, SWS's treasurer and project manager for the library. "Once we looked into it we saw all these other benefits, all these other ways a tool library can help the community."

He says a library creates a sense of community and makes things happen. People have ideas for projects and the know-how and time, but not the one tool they need. The library provides the missing component.

Julie Smith is executive director of Rebuilding Together Central Ohio, a Columbus-based nonprofit that runs a tool library. She says a lending library allows unemployed or low-income citizens to use what funds they do have on projects.

"It's also seniors who rent a property and are required to do the exterior lawn maintenance and upkeep, and who are charged a ridiculous amount if the landlord has to send someone in," she says.

"I have a lady who comes down the alleyway and borrows the lawn mower on a regular basis, because if she doesn't mow her yard and her landlord determines it's past due, he charges her $75 to do it."

Want to start a tool library? Here are some tips:

Planning

Dunn says the first thing needed is commitment. Agree that the lending library is necessary and that you and your organization will make it happen.

Then determine what the demand is. General home repair? Gardening? Community projects?

And who do you want to serve? People needing high-end tools, or a low-income population that needs a starter collection? Plan according to the need.

Insurance

Liability insurance could be the biggest hurdle. Says Dunn: "With some of the companies, it's like you're calling them up and saying, 'I'd like to find a way to get people to chop their fingers off. You want to insure that?' A lot of them said no."

His group worked with an insurance broker who was willing to go through the process with a number of insurance companies before finding one that offered a good package.

"It's just a hoop you have to go through … to get a project like this started."

Smith cites several factors in the cost of insurance. If a group is funded through a faith-based organization, insurance will be more affordable, and costs can vary depending on a group's location.

Staffing

The libraries need committed volunteers, but full-time staffers should be in the key positions. Columbus has two; Seattle is preparing to hire its first.

Tools

The Columbus library has 4,500 tools, most of which it inherited from a city program started in 1976. When it was discontinued a year and a half ago, RTCO stepped up and kept it alive. New tools do keep arriving. She was recently in a meeting and mentioned that the group was short on wheelbarrows; the next day, Home Depot donated seven.

Seattle has between 500 and 600 donated tools, far more than Dunn expected at this point. Most have come through tool drives with hardware stories and nurseries.

"Anybody who comes in and donates a tool on a certain day gets a big discount at their store. It drives their business tremendously. We had one day at a local nursery where we had 400 donations, and everybody who donated went on to buy something."

Garage sales are another source of tools — but make sure what you take in is safe.

"It needs to be in good working order and safe," Smith says. "Have somebody who's qualified to make that judgment."

Rules

Neither the Seattle nor Columbus libraries charges to join the program. People do need to register, however, so the tools can be tracked.

Smith says that she has made only two "executive director" calls in the last year and a half. "I said, 'Look you have until this time or I'm going to press charges,' and our stuff has come back. I would say two in over 1,400-1,500 loans is pretty good."

In Columbus, there is no charge to borrow, but there is a $5 late fee. In Seattle, people pay what they want, which has worked out nicely; Dunn says customers are surprisingly generous, sometimes even contributing additional tools when they return what they borrowed.

Tools are borrowed from a day to a week — or longer if someone needs an extension.